SEC.  25-32-39. The powers and duties of the commission; administration and other related duties.

The commission shall have the following powers and duties:

(a) To appoint an executive director who shall be licensed to practice law in the State of Mississippi and shall have been so licensed for at least four (4) years prior to the appointment, and who shall be knowledgeable and experienced in the field of criminal law, and to charge the executive director with the performance of all reasonable and appropriate administrative and related duties;

(b) In its discretion, to delegate to the executive director such of the powers and duties, in whole or in part, as are provided in Sections 25-32-31 through 25-32-65 to be performed by the commission;

(c) To implement and ensure the enjoyment of the right to counsel and the right to the effective assistance of counsel secured to persons by the Constitution of the United States of America and by the Constitution of the State of Mississippi;

(d) To establish, implement and enforce policies and standards for a comprehensive and effective public defender system throughout the State of Mississippi, including, but not limited to, standards for determining who qualifies as an indigent person;

(e) To establish, implement and enforce policies and standards for the appointment, compensation and payment of reasonable litigation expenses of competent counsel in state post-conviction proceedings brought by indigent prisoners whose convictions and sentences have become final for  state law purposes, to provide optimal standards of competency for the appointment of such counsel, and otherwise to satisfy all requirements and conditions of the Act of Congress officially
designated as Public Law 104-132, Title I, Section 107, April 24, 1996, 110 Stat. 1221, and any amendments that may thereafter be made thereto.

(f) To establish the standards for determining which counties require full-time district defender offices, which, if any, require and can best be served by part-time contract district defenders, and which, if any, require and can effectively be served by a system of court-appointment of private practicing lawyers, and to review the standards so established and the needs of each county so assessed from time to time as may be appropriate, but not less often than every fifth year beginning
with July 1, 1998;

(g) To maintain within its office a conflicts division and an appellate division and to appoint a qualified person to direct and perform the functions of each;

(h) To establish policies and standards for the organization and operation of its office and of the district defenders' offices throughout the state, including, but not limited to:

(i) Distribution to and among the several district defender offices of the financial resources as are made available for its office and providing, as well, for a reasonable allocation of such resources to the commission and its offices and staff;

(ii) Establishment of optimal qualifications for all attorneys particularly within or employed by the Statewide Public Defender System, whether as full-time staff attorneys, assistant state defenders, assistant district defenders, part-time contract defenders or specially appointed defenders;

(iii) Establishment of optimal standards of experience for paralegals, investigators and other personnel assigned to such offices and to particular cases;

(iv) Establishment of optimal standards for staffing, caseloads and support personnel and facilities for each district defender's office; and

(v) Establishment of employee personnel policies including compensation, salary and benefit schedules for the office of the state defender and of each district defender;

(i) To appoint a district defender for each circuit court district;

(j) To evaluate the performance of each district defender, assistant district defender, part-time attorney, contract attorney, private attorney assigned to represent indigent persons, and all other personnel of the public defender system, and to have and provide for quality control, personnel
evaluation and review, incentives and rewards for meritorious performance, and to have and exercise such powers as may be reasonably necessary to enhance the quality and quantity of services delivered and to address and correct deficiencies;

(k) To reassign cases from one district defender to another district defender in another circuit court district on a volume basis or an individual basis for the purpose of avoiding conflicts, adjusting or more efficiently distributing caseloads, securing expertise needed for the defense of particular cases,
and otherwise implementing the purposes and provisions of Sections 25-32-31 through 25-32-65;

(l) To enter into contracts with attorneys who will thereafter serve as part-time assistant district defenders on such terms and conditions as may be appropriate and agreed upon;

(m) To maintain for each county and for each circuit court district a current list of private attorneys who are competent in the defense of criminal charges and are willing to accept appointments for individual representations, cases or other assignments, including the defense of capital cases, and who meet any other qualifications established by his office, and to these ends:

(i) To notify once a year all licensed attorneys residing in Mississippi by publication or otherwise that a list is being prepared and maintained of attorneys willing to represent indigent persons;

(ii) To afford attorneys notified under this section a reasonable time to submit the information requested by the commission;

(iii) To prepare, certify and update annually a list of such attorneys for each county and for each circuit court district;

(iv) To prepare, certify and update annually a separate list of attorneys competent and willing to accept appointment in capital cases for each county and for each circuit court district;
and

(v) To appoint attorneys from this list for individual representations, cases or other assignments and to compensate any such attorney and, out of funds available to his office, to reimburse expenses as provided in Section 99-15-17, Mississippi Code of 1972;

(n) To commence such civil actions as may be reasonably necessary to assure the efficient and effective functioning of the Statewide Public Defender System and to enjoin or otherwise remedy or resolve attempts to interfere therewith;

(o) To prepare and approve the annual budget for the operation of the Statewide Public Defender System and for each district defender's office throughout the state, and to administer and oversee the implementation of each such budget;

(p) To compile and disseminate statutes, court opinions, legal research, articles and other information to district defenders and private attorneys participating in the Statewide Public Defender System;

(q) To maintain a law library or libraries and a brief bank for use in connection with trials and appeals at such place or places as may be reasonably practicable;

(r) To convene conferences, continuing legal education programs and training seminars or planning or strategy meetings related to the Statewide Public Defender System, and to attend or send any persons to any such conferences, programs, seminars or meetings both within and without the
State of Mississippi;

(s) To accept, and to authorize a district defender to accept, monies, gifts, grants, or services from any public or private source, for the purpose of funding, operating and executing the duties of his or its office;

(t) To enter into contracts with individuals, educational institutions, nonprofit associations, or state or federal agencies, including contracts for the provision of legal services related to the defense of indigent persons;

(u) To cooperate with any individual or public agency, whether state or federal, or with any law school, public or private, or with any institution of higher learning of the State of Mississippi, to obtain by gift, grant or otherwise any financial, professional, investigatory, training, educational or research or other assistance; provided, however, that any grants or any financial assistance whatever for the purpose herein set out shall be paid over to the commission and administered by the commission consistent with the provisions of Sections 25-32-31 through 25-32-65;

(v) To receive, allocate and disburse funds appropriated for the operation of the Statewide Public Defender System pursuant to guidelines established by its office, in cooperation with and after consultation with the Administrative Office of Courts, and to reallocate available resources within the Statewide Public Defender System as may be necessary to carry out and implement more effectively the purposes and policies of Sections 25-32-31 through 25-32-65;

(w) To approve the purchase, lease, rental and use of office space, equipment, or personnel and the sharing of same between and among district defenders and between and among the counties within the several circuit court districts;

(x) To provide to the Administrative Office of Courts and the Mississippi Judicial Advisory Study Committee any and all information, reports, statistics and other forms of assistance as may from time to time be requested or otherwise required by law;

(y) To present to the Governor and to the Legislature within ninety (90) days after the end of the fiscal year an annual report on the operation of the Statewide Public Defender System, and recommendations for improvement;

(z) To appear before and provide assistance to, and make recommendations to the Legislature and other relevant bodies regarding matters related to the public defender system, including, but not limited to, recommendations regarding the phasing in of the statewide public defender system, the
transition from the current county based system of indigent defense, and regarding the  appropriateness and practicability of the repealer dates provided herein for Section 99-15-15 and
the statutes repealed by Section 25-32-21;

(aa) To maintain records of the operation of the Statewide Public Defender System, including, but not limited to, the following:

(i) Detailed descriptions of the organization of each district defender's office;

(ii) Caseload of each district defender's office, broken down by counties and including cases assigned to private attorneys;

(iii) Budgets and actual expenditures of the office of the commission and each district defender's office;

(iv) Reassignment of cases from one district defender to another district defender in another circuit court district;

(v) Use of part-time contract attorneys; and

(vi) Assignment of cases to private attorneys;

(bb) To employ and set the compensation of the executive director, his assistants and other employees as are necessary to enable the commission to exercise its powers and perform its duties;

(cc) To purchase professional liability insurance to cover and protect all persons within the Statewide Public Defender System;

(dd) To educate the public regarding the state's defense interest and regarding the history, need, importance and legal dimensions of the right to counsel;

(ee) To cooperate with, share information with and receive assistance from the American Bar Association and, particularly, its Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defendants, The Mississippi Bar, and other associations of attorneys;

(ff) To perform any and all functions necessary for the efficient operation of such an office to the end that adequate legal defense for indigent persons accused of offenses shall be provided at every stage of their cases, and in post-conviction proceedings with regard thereto;

(gg) To adopt and promulgate reasonable and necessary rules and regulations, formally or informally, as may be appropriate, to administer the Statewide Public Defender System, to perform its duties and powers hereunder, and to implement the provisions of Sections 25-32-31 through 25-32-65; and to propose forms for the use of the courts, the commissions and other persons with powers and duties hereunder;

(hh) To have and exercise such implied duties and powers as may reasonably be necessary to assure the efficient and effective functioning of the Statewide Public Defender System;

(ii) To delegate to the district defenders in whole or in part the exercise and performance of powers and duties set forth in this section where and to the extent that the commission determines such powers and duties are suitable for exercise and performance at the district level;

(jj) In the exercise and performance of any and all powers and duties provided by Sections 25-32-31 through 25-32-65, to cooperate fully with, to seek the advice, assistance and support
of, the Administrative Office of Courts and the Mississippi Judicial Advisory Study Committee;

(kk) In the exercise and performance of any and all powers and duties provided by Sections 25-32-31 through 25-32-65, to establish priorities for the provision of counsel for indigent
persons by reference to the stage of proceedings against such persons and the nature and importance of the charges against such persons, and to do so by reference to the availability of
financial, professional and other resources, and to adjust such priorities from time to time as may be appropriate; and

(ll) In cooperation with and with the assistance of the Administrative Office of Courts, to develop policies and procedures for the transition from the current county-based system of indigent defense to the Statewide Public Defender System authorized and contemplated by Sections 25-32-31
through 25-32-65, including a timetable for phasing in and implementing the provisions of Sections 25-32-31 through 25-32-65 and for staffing and funding the offices created and provided herein, and to implement same.

SOURCES: Laws, 1998, ch. 575, § 5, SB 2239, eff from and after July 1, 1998, provided the new programs authorized by Laws, 1998, ch. 575, are funded and certified.

NOTE: Laws, 1998, ch. 575, § 21, provides:

SECTION 21. (1) All new programs authorized under this Senate Bill No. 2239 shall be subject to the availability of funds specifically appropriated therefor by the Legislature during the 1998 Regular Session or any subsequent session. This act shall be codified but no amendment to a code section or repeal of a code section enacted by this Senate Bill No. 2239 shall take effect until the Legislature has funded any new programs authorized hereunder by line item appropriation, said line item appropriation to be certified by the Legislative Budget Office to the Secretary of State.

(2) Notwithstanding any other provision of this act, the only actions authorized under this act to be funded shall be the hiring of the executive director, the hiring of a secretary for the executive director, expenses necessary for the operation of the commission and the executive director's office and expenses incidental thereto, and providing per diem for the members of the commission unless other legal funding as authorized under this act other than by appropriation of the Legislature is available. The commission shall assess the feasibility and cost of the implementation of this act and report its findings to the Legislature not later than January 1, 1999. This subsection (2) shall stand repealed on July 1, 1999.